Johnny Reid was one of the performers at the Rick Hansen: A Concert for Heroes tribute at the Pacific Coliseum May 22, 2012.Steve Bosch
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Rick Hansen acknowledged the crowd at the Pacific Coliseum during his Concert for Heroes celebration May 22, 2012.Steve Bosch
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Rick Hansen and medal bearer Amanda Magyar (R) arrive at Vancouver's Terry Fox Plaza during the last day of the relay.Ward Perrin
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Vince Miele, in yellow, and Rick Hansen approach the celebrations at the end of day 271 (out of 273) of the Rick Hansen 25th Anniversary Relay, at the Richmond Oval in Richmond on May 20, 2012. On Miele's lap is his one-year-old grandson, William.Stuart Davis
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Mayor Malcolm Brodie(right) of Richmond speaks to the assembled crowd, including Rick Hansen (on stage) at the finale of day 271 (out of 273) at the Richmond Oval in Richmond on May 20, 2012.Stuart Davis
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Rick Hansen arrives at Vancouver's city hall during the last day of his 25th anniversary relay.Ward Perrin
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Rick Hansen and many of the participants in the Rick Hansen 25th Anniversary Relay celebrate at the end of day 271 (out of 273) at the Richmond Oval in Richmond on May 20, 2012.Stuart Davis
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Rick Hansen (L) signs the guestbookat Vancouver's city hall during the last day of his 25th anniversary relay. With Hansen is deputy mayor Tony Tang.Ward Perrin
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Rick Hansen and medal bearer Amanda Magyar (R) arrive at Vancouver's Terry Fox Plaza during the last day of the relay.Ward Perrin
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Rick Hansen talks at Vancouver's Terry Fox Plaza during the last day of the relay.Ward Perrin
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Rick Hansen and Gregor Robertson on the big screen at Vancouver's Terry Fox Plaza during the last day of the relay.Ward Perrin
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Joey Desjardins was taking a turn too fast when his dirt bike crashed and he was left with a spinal cord injury.

“I thought my life was over at that point,” said the 25-year-old of the 2009 accident that left him a paraplegic and changed his life. “It took me about a year to feel like I was myself again, like I was in my own body.”

Today, Desjardins regularly participates in hand cycle, downhill skiing, cross-country skiing, water skiing, basketball and sledge hockey. He is one of countless people touched by the story of Rick Hansen’s Man in Motion tour, the 25th anniversary of which was celebrated Tuesday night at the Concert for Heroes at Pacific Coliseum.

Sarah McLachlan, David Suzuki, Jann Arden and Marianas Trench were all on hand to help mark the anniversary – with no shortage of compliments for Hansen. Each presenter shared their own story of how Hansen had touched their lives and turned the spotlight onto ordinary folks needing a small push.

“Rick just made me open my eyes, to try new things and to push myself,” Desjardins said of the Canadian hero prior to the concert. “Once I started, I kept going.”

Earlier in the day, Hansen came face-to-face with a hero of his own when he wheeled into Terry Fox Plaza to celebrate the anniversary of the completion of his groundbreaking Man in Motion tour.

Hansen completed the final leg of his current nine-month-long relay 25 years to the day he completed an unlikely 40,000-km round-the-world wheelchair endurance test at this very spot – and said Fox’s indomitable spirit kept him going in his darkest hours.

“My friend Terry Fox is immortalized in this plaza,” Hansen told an adoring throng. “He is challenging us to make a difference.”

“Terry inspired people like me, when I was wondering whether I had the courage. Thanks to him, I took the first step,” Hansen shared. “There were times, believe me, when I thought about quitting.

“But someone [Fox’s spirit] was at my shoulder, saying, ‘You can do it.’”

Fox’s cross-Canada Marathon of Hope was the inspiration for Hansen’s Man in Motion Tour, which in turn led to the completion Tuesday of the 25th Anniversary Rick Hansen Relay. The relay called on more than 7,000 “difference makers” to help carry a Man in Motion medal across Canada, retracing Hansen’s original 12,000-km route.

“There are a few moments in life when the dream and the reality are the same,” said Hansen after he turned the tables on the final leg — hurtling down Robson Street in his wheelchair, leaving able-bodied followers in his wake.

“This is one of those unbelievable moments.”

Many of the speakers celebrated Hansen not for his much-publicized fundraising tours, but for the quiet behind-the-scenes support and inspiration he gives other disabled persons, such as Emily de Boer, one of 7,000 medal bearers who helped complete the nine-month cross-Canada relay.

“When I was in hospital, he came to visit me,” said the 12-year-old Steveston girl, who is quickly adapting to a new life after a year of getting used to getting around by wheelchair.

“He phones me, emails me, checks up on me all the time.”

De Boer was mightily impressed with Hansen’s wheelchair technique on the final sprint to the finish, along with his well-known advocacy and fundraising roles, Hansen is also a keen athlete who excelled both as a wheelchair racer and wheelchair basketball player.

“I don’t think he was even holding on — he was just going,” said de Boer. “I was just trying to keep up.”

Hansen chose youthful “difference makers” for the 7,000 relay positions, including de Boer and the final relay runner, volunteer extraordinaire Amanda Magyar.

Hansen saluted how much the world has changed in the 25 years since his original 34-nation tour.

Now he’s turning his focus to the next 25 years — counting on youthful leaders such as Magyar, an idealistic 19-year-old from St. Albert, Alta.

“I want to dedicate myself to volunteering. I help out with the environment, people, and animals,” said Magyar, who among other duties is a Brownie leader and plants trees, all the while exuding the selflessness of the youthful “difference makers” Hansen is counting on to continue his world-changing work.

“I know, in the next 25 years, we’ll get to the point where one billion people on the planet who have disabilities will be surrounded by healthy people,” said Hansen, who speaks constantly of a future of “inclusion.”

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